WAR AND PEAS AND QUIET PLEASE

I took my class to the public library today. The trip cast me in a role I hate: drill sergeant. Picture the line of perfectly uniformed teens melting on the library lawn in the hundred-degree heat as I read them the riot act. "In public libraries we speak in quiet voices. We do not throw books or rough house. We do NOT talk or laugh in loud voices. We whisper!" Though unpleasant for us all, the lecture seemed to work. As the librarian issued cards and gave them a tour, they were as quiet as mice. After learning to use the card catalog, they dove into the stacks like accomplished bibliophiles. While the herd grazed, I set out to round up the stragglers - helping them find books on appropriate reading levels. Two students presented books for my approval, "Are these on our reading level?" One was holding a beginner board book (the laminated kind that keeps toddlers from wiping peas and carrots into more delicate pages). The other held an enormous copy of War and Peace. I broke my own rule and laughed out loud. Sometimes I take my job too seriously. Do you think that's what they were trying to tell me?